By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. After more than a century sailing along as an independent black nation, Haiti collided with the Monroe Doctrine in the person of U.S. kingmaker Roger L. Farnham in 1915. He soon met his match in Haitian hero Charlemagne Peralte.
By staff, AHP | Translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery | AlJazeera, YouTube. Nineteen year-old Johnny Jean from Port-Salut was heard on Thursday May 10 by Uruguayan Judge Guido Alejandro. Jean identified in court the soldiers he accuses of having raped him in a Port Salut base of the U.N. Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). (English | French)
Poor Little Rich Haiti to Be Fleeced of Copper-Silver-Gold Via Caracol Deep-Water Port (UPDATED)
By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Plans are under way for Canadian corporations to mine Haiti’s northeast area near Caracol, which has been discovered to contain a wealth of silver and gold, in addition to copper. As in the Dominican Republic’s Pueblo Viejo project, construction of the mines will involve dynamiting of mountains, and the ore will be extracted by an opencast (or open-pit) mining process that contaminates large volumes of water with cyanide. In addition a deep-water port is slated for construction in Caracol. UPDATES: May 7 (Le Matin) Martelly formally announces construction of a “modern port” in Fort Liberte, near Caracol.
By Wilson Bigaud | Introduction by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. A distinguishing feature of Bigaud’s work is that his tableaux took everyday aspects of Haitian life and lovingly chronicled them. Although Bigaud was born in Port-au-Prince, he spent most of his life about 70 km south-west of the capital in the village of Vialet, near the town of Petit-Goâve. He liked to walk in the countryside, hike little trails, talk to villagers, and return home to paint his day.
By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery | Julia Whitty, Mother Jones. An article by Paul Durak and colleagues in the Journal Science represents yet more confirmation that the effects of global warming are stronger than anticipated from scientific models. An intensification of water evaporation and precipitation over the Earth implies severe consequences for living things, including famines, floods, droughts, and general climate instability.
Piarroux: Haiti Epidemic Could Be Gone in Months, Vaccination Target St Marc Has No Cholera
By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery (English) | Renaud Piarroux and Claire Hedon, Priorite Sante (French). Contrary to the daily predictions of mayhem from the mainstream press about Haiti’s cholera epidemic, Dr. Renaud Piarroux, who has access to up-to-date medical information and laboratory results about the epidemic, says it is waning and now exists only as a series of clusters in the North of the country. Based on his extensive experience in controlling epidemics of tropical diseases, he adds that cholera could be completely eradicated from Haiti in a few months, but not by the oral vaccination campaign promoted by Haiti’s Ministry of Public Health and Population. (English | French)
By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. The dance: a poem inspired by a conversation, the birds, and Bach’s little fugue in G minor.
In PIH Oral Cholera Vaccine Trial, Rights of Haitians Should be Respected (UPDATED)
By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. A medical trial in Haiti — presumably of the oral cholera vaccine Shanchol — on poor women and children is being presented as a vaccination campaign. To avoid possible abuse it is essential that the Declaration of Helsinki guidelines be followed. The medical trial should be monitored by a panel of impartial observers; potential medical subjects should be advised of their rights, including the fact that they are entitled to informed consent, health monitoring, and participation that is voluntary, without coercion and with the option to withdraw at any time. UPDATES: April 12, Additional information about involvement of Harvard scientists in promoting oral vaccines for Haiti. April 17, Information on Shanta’s manufacture of the pentavalent vaccine Shan5 recommended for recall and destruction by the World Health Organization.
By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. A recent article by Dr. Renaud Piarroux and his colleagues from France, Haiti, and the U.S. combines the epidemiological information about Haiti’s cholera outbreak, together with molecular biology evidence to make an ironclad scientific case about a Nepalese MINUSTAH base being the source of Haiti’s cholera contamination. The epidemic is attributed directly to an inadequate medical surveillance of 1,280 UN personnel who were brought to Nepal to train during an epidemic and the appalling sanitation later at their UN base in the town of Mirebalais, Haiti.
Paramilitary Gangs Join UN Force in Preying on Haitian Population (UPDATED)
By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. It is hardly worthwhile to entertain some notion that the U.N. force MINUSTAH and the new paramilitary gangs are somehow at odds with each other. Both are supported by the U.S. and France, and both prey on the Haitian population and National Police. MINUSTAH’s abuses are given as the reason why a “Haitian army” is needed to defend the national sovereignty, and the threat of abuse by paramilitaries serves to justify MINUSTAH’s continued stay.
By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Representatives of Haiti and the international community participated in a one-hour meeting in the National Palace on Thursday, March 1 on the urgent need to establish a Permanent Electoral Council and schedule new elections, as prescribed by the Haitian Constitution. In another meeting between the representatives of Haiti and Venezuela on March 2-3, Venezuela announced $369 million of projects including a gift of financial and technical support for a National Identification system.
Haiti’s Elected Mayors Dismissed, Illegally Replaced by Presidential Appointees
By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Thirteen Haitian mayors were dismissed and replaced on Feb 18th by presidential decree. In a press conference, one mayor said that a new individual recently arrived claiming to be his municipality’s new mayor, and two days later he got a letter telling him to assist this person in taking inventory of the region’s heritage. Another mayor wrote in open letter on Feb 3rd that his life is under threat. Secretary of the Interior Georges Racine is thought to be behind the wave of illegal dismissals. UPDATE HPN Mar 23, AHP Mar 28: Protesters in St Marc block entry to municipal buildings to prevent installment of Martelly appointees. (English | Portuguese)
By Ali Farka Toure, You Tube | Discogs | Introduction by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Ali Farka Toure was a fantastic singer-composer-musician from the Timbuktu region of Mali. He was also an exceptionally well-grounded individual who, after touring the U.S. and Europe to great acclaim, returned to his village to work as a fruit and rice farmer. Later he served as the Mayor of the Niafunke region where his projects included malaria eradication and tree planting.
By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery | By Yaima Puig Meneses, Granma. Agreements by member countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) included a common economic zone, strong support for the Republic of Haiti, backing for Argentina on issue of the Malvinas, a call for the release of the Cuban Five, a special declaration on Puerto Rico’s right to full independence, and an official communique condemning the U.S. destabilization of Syria. Participants ratified Haiti’s participation as a permanent special invitee and agreed to hold the next summit of the ALBA Foreign Ministers in Jacmel, Haiti. (Video: Pres. Rafael Correa speech, in Spanish)